A luxury product does not need to be perfect; it needs to be unique

Pascal Gerbert – Gaillard, Cartier collector

Nowadays no one needs to wear a wrist watch. Time is shown everywhere, all electronic devices surrounding us are capable of telling the time. But a wrist watch is more than that. It is an accessory which we like to look at, which complements and communicates our personal style or can even nonverbally express our momentary mood. The interaction of these smallest of pieces, harmonically working together to build a ticking mechanical or electronic heart is just mesmerising.

Why a modern watch is not the same thing

Most modern watches are made in huge numbers and most share the same few manufacturers of components. Computerised, sales-statistic driven marketing has become more important than the product itself. Most watches are produced for export and are tailored to fit certain buyer categories and they are mostly over styled, over equipped, over sized and over priced! And let’s face it: Most modern watches look the same across brands.

Only very few manufacturers remain, who completely make the components themselves, such as Rolex, Patek Phillippe, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger- Le-Coultre and of course the small independent luxury watch manufacturers.

Sustainability and Recycling

By reusing a vintage watch, one participates also to some extent to the safeguard of our resources. Just think about all the precious material and energy which is used to fabricate new watches. As with many objects which surround us, if it can be reused or repaired it should be given a new life.

The vintage advantage

Let us not be naïve. Industrial production methods for watches have been introduced in the 1790s and also back then, manufacturers shared many prefabricated pieces. However, components of vintage watches are sturdy, well engineered and easily serviceable. Cleaning, oiling and adjusting an over 90 year old movement is mostly enough to have it working at least for another 2 years.

In line with above, marketing strategies to boost watch sales were applied since the 1920s. Still, there is a certain sympathetic clumsiness when reading the adverts of that time. The brands strategies were not yet fully developed and they were in research of their niche market. Apart of experimental designs, the distinctive styles of vintage watches are readily readable and the periods in which they were made is easily discernible. This nostalgia and link with the past represents the core for the preference of vintage watches over modern pieces.

Most importantly, vintage watches have had a previous life and many survived decades of use, abuse and sometimes even several wars. Back then, no one bought watches for speculative purposes. They were tools to help driving and expanding society, science and exploration and contributed greatly to build the world we now behold.

A vintage watch is sustainable, has character and offers more for the money. Having survived for decades showing the signs of time, a vintage watch has the power to transmit emotions.